Toothbrushes are generally divided into common ones for manual use in which their holder sections and toothbrush sections are monolithically formed and motor-driven ones incorporating a motor driven by a current from a battery or a receptacle.
Motor-driven toothbrushes include those in which the torque generated by the motor is converted by a torque converting mechanism into either a rolling, moving or sliding movement. Still other motor-driven toothbrushes include a vibrating system with a weight that is eccentrically set on a rotational shaft of the motor. Motor-driven toothbrushes of both types have proven to be tools for protecting health of teeth and gums since they both clean the surface of the teeth and massage the gums.
Motor-driven toothbrushes are usually constructed to have a holder section and toothbrush section that can be selectively attached to the holder section. This makes it possible for different persons to use individual toothbrush sections with a common holder section and allow individuals to replace toothbrush sections as they wear out.
In some types of conventional motor-driven toothbrushes, a screwing section and a screwed section are formed in the holder section and toothbrush section, respectively, for securing the sections together. In other conventional motor-driven toothbrushes, two components are fixed to each other with a stopper that includes a resilient member, such as a spring.
The conventional type of motor-driven toothbrushes as described above have the common feature that configuration of a mounting section is complicated.
As a result, it is very difficult to manufacture especially a mounting section of a motor-driven toothbrush. This difficulty has been known to increase the overall cost of manufacturing these toothbrushes.
Also, because the configuration of the mounting section of the motor-driven toothbrush is complicated, both the size and weight of the toothbrush often need to be increased. The increase in these physical characteristics make use of the toothbrush inconvenient.
Still other conventional motor-driven toothbrushes include those which make use of an engaging claw that is different from the screw system or the stopper system. Toothbrushes that include these engaging claws are also complicated. Moreover, there are also some concerns for stability of the holder section after it is set on the toothbrush section, which means that the reliability is disadvantageously low.